The Big Adventure
Knowing God’s Name is an Adventure. It is a journey with a very specific Destination. Heaven. His Presence. Him!
Ever start a journey and you didn’t really know where you were going? Ever hear the saying: “If you aim at nothing you are sure to hit it!”
One of the First Steps of Walking into God’s Big Adventure should be Knowing God’s Name.
How can I have a Real Relationship with someone if I don’t know their own Chosen Name. The Name by which they want to be Known. The Name they have declared as their intimate Name. The Name of their forever Identity.
The Truth is I can’t.
How can I share my Real Relationship with God, if I really have not taken the time or space to even know his name. That is a pretty basic and elementary step in the Relationship process don’t you think? That would be a pretty high bar to jump over.
Obviously, the better you know His Name, the better you may be able to proclaim it to others. That only makes sense, Right?
Knowing and using His Name and His Word correctly, greatly increases your effectiveness in His Kingdom Calling.
So maybe that is what I should do. First learn his name correctly. Learn the Big Picture of His Name and His Word, and how they Compliment one another. Then use his name and his word correctly. This, I believe, would be honoring to him. I hope this all makes good sense.
If I do not know his name, where it comes from, how he has it directed me to use it, how can I honor his name?
The answer is, I can’t. I will have large gaps in my understanding, that will typically be filled with misinformation from my own cultural misunderstandings, and my own personal cultural prejudices. And this has been happening for centuries.
The Word of God Commands us to Know His Name. To Speak His Name. To Teach in His Name. To Preach In His Name. To Heal in His Name. To Cast of Devils in His Name. To Destroy the Works of the Evil One in His Name! To Enter the House of the Strong Man (Satan) and Plunder His Goods (the Souls of Men) in His Name. How can we do that if we don’t see the Big Picture and have not learned the essentials about His Name?
“The Name of God”— How can we Trust in His Name if we don’t know where his name comes from? If we don’t know the story behind his name? That should make good common sense, Right? The Name of God is only as good as the Testimony that it comes from–His Word. And my understanding of the story will either be a critical component that will block understanding or let understanding flow from my correct understanding, or incorrect understanding.
His Testimony is Our Teacher
Thankfully we have his testimony that we can go to and I discover the necessary information we need to know and to honor his name.
The history of God’s story concerning God’s name, is very important to God, therefore it should be very important to us as well. Did you know that God waited 2500 years before revealing his name to his own people? In fact, he waited for a specific time, and a specific place, and a specific person in which to reveal his name. All this is a part of the story we have been given about his name. And ever since that day God has been revealing more and more details about him self, and about his name, so that we might know him. Therefore it is important that we learn his story.
Thankfully, his Story is Living and Vibrant and will not disappoint us. It is a story that we should celebrate every day of our lives.
Matthew 6:9 – Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be “Thy Name.” [Do you want to know His Name?]
Doesn’t that beg the question what is his name?
For 2,500 years, from Adam to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses–men had been seeking God and offering blood sacrifices to Him for the forgiveness/pardon/propitiation of their sin, without knowing His covenant name. They knew about him mostly through personal experience and family Worship Traditions passed down from Father to Son for exactly 20 generations from Adam to Abraham, but none of them knew His Covenant Name–until the right Time God appointed to reveal it.
FUN FACT #1: Adam lived 930 years and then he died–126 years passed and Noah was born. Noah Lived 950 years and he died , but 60 years before Noah died another significant prophet was born named Abraham. To Abraham was born Isaac, and to Issac was born Jacob. Furthermore, Shem, Noah’s oldest son, died 35 years after Abraham died. Why mention this?
Please Note: all the dates above are AC, (AC = “after creation” from the day/year Adam was created).
AC dating starts approximately 4000 year before Christ, (give or take 5 or 6 years.)
- Adam Died in 930 AC.
- Enoch Died in 987 AC.
- Noah was born in 1056 AC.
- Lamech Died in 1651 AC.
- Methuselah Died in 1656 AC.
You and I are living just about 6,000 AC (give or take a couple years). That is supremely significant according to God’s prophetic calendar, but that is a topic for a future study…
Below is some added information: It’s a bit of a rabbit trail away from the Name of God Story, but it is exceptionally helpful material to grasp the Big Picture of God’s Word. It reveals the tight interconnectedness of God’s Word. The Story is deeply intertwining, and incredibly detailed in some ways, and those details remain flawless throughout the centuries. This Story is marvelously Airtight, and continues to disprove its critics century after century. That is important to know. The information is for personal edification, but if the Name of God Message is your primary focus, you can skip the below input and directly to:
The Next Study: The Name of God (6) Aleph
Seeing God’s Word, and His Testimony from His Big Picture
Whenever I can grasp a visual Big Picture of a Subject it helps me dramatically, because I am a visual learner. If you are like me, this will help you as well.
What can we see from the above picture?
The entire story of God was known and carried from one generation to the next, by the original Man, created in God’s Image, Adam. He was alive and available to be consulted personally by the first 9 generations of mankind. And they all watched the work of mankind. Everyone of the men in Adam’s family saw the men of the world listening to the lies of the Evil One. And they watched as men continued to corrupt their ways. They saw first hand how men committed their ways to do more and more evil–following the Liar, the Robber, and the Murderer, who sowed his seeds of darkness, wickedness, seduction, temptation, and war amongst all the families of the world until the planet was filled to overflowing with violence and evil.
Please note: Men and animals lived much longer in Noah’s Day (before the flood). Why? Due to the increased oxygen in the atmosphere. Before the flood, there was a thick cloud firmament, a strong cloud covering that created a greenhouse effect around the whole earth. It created the “hothouse/greenhouse” effect, that apparently kept the entire world warm, even to the North Pole where ancient tropical forest plants have been found buried in the ice. The Heavenly firmament also blocked much of the damaging radiation coming from the sun rays (that caused aging to the body) before the flood. Therefore animals, men, and plants lived much longer than they do today. As a result: dinosaurs became huge. Why? Because reptiles never stop growing. Can you imagine the size of a 900 year old iguana? or centipede? Ever see a 200 year old tortoise? Largest sea turtle in Guiness’ World Records: weighed 4,800 pounds. My guess … it lived a long time before getting that big.)
So what do these long lives have to do with the testimony of God?
Well, this is of incredibly vital importance. Ancient peoples of the earth had incredible memories. They memorized and immortalized their family stories. And Living for 900 plus years, they have lots of time to meditate on and share their stories, especially their stories about their interactions with God with their children. Remember, they didn’t have radio, or TV, or videos or printed magazines or lots of printed books. But they had something much better–their minds. And according to what they put into their minds (The Pictures of God’s Work and His Kingdom), that was the treasure they Beheld. As it turns out a godly family, would have many details to record about the goodness, the mercy, the protection, the provision of God, and the miraculous interventions of God. These Testimonies would be the treasures, they would pass on to the next generation.
Our present day Bible does not contain all of the testimonies and all of the stories shared by the early followers of God. But it does include vital information and details that are specific to the purpose and priority of building up the Kingdom of God–and that point to the Coming King who would One Day Rule the World in Righteous, Peace, Joy, and Truth.
The details of each patriarch’s life and the lives of their family were passed on from generation to generation. Keep this in mind as you continue learning, studying, reading and meditating on in this testimony of God.
So Noah, would have learned Adam’s testimony, not from Adam himself, not first hand, but he could have learned it from any one of the Sons of Adam to the 9th generation (except Enoch his great grandfather, who was taken by God at the age of 365 years). All these would have learned Adam’s Testimony directly from Adam. And Noah being alive in Abraham’s day, could have shared his testimony directly with Abraham. And Shem could have shared his testimony directly face to face with Eber (the father of the Hebrews) Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Rueben. Of course that is not recorded, in scripture, but the possibility existed. And the testimony could have been shared and confirmed by many others as well, even if it was not written down. That is the main point we want to establish here.
Noah if he had the contact, likely would have shared His entire Testimony with Abraham, and passed on the Family Blessing to Him. Isaac and Jacob could have conversed with Shem face to face. And Shem could have passed on the Family Blessing to them. (Jacob was 50 when Shem died, so Ruben Jacob’s oldest son could’ve easily met Shem, Noah’s son, face-to-face.) Can you see how these relationships dramatically help to establish the integrity and veracity of the Testimony of God’s Story? There is so much overlap and so much room for confirmation. And even though the Story of God has been under Enemy Attack from the Very Beginning–“Did God really say …” (Gen. 3) righteous men and women have kept God’s Testimony Alive and Preserved it faithfully and passed it on to their children, even as many still do today.
To put this into a historical perspective: Adam’s life covers the bulk or rather dominates the first 1,ooo years of human history–-the first millennium.
Note: From the Date of Creation to end of the first One Thousand years of Human Existence, Adam dominates the Historical Map. From 0 to 1000 FCD (From Creation Date), or more commonly known roughly as 4000 B.C. to 3000 B.C.] Many Bible scholars place the biblical date of creation to be very near 4034 B.C. to 4004 B.C.
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- Noah’s Life covers the bulk of the second 1,ooo years of human history–the second millennium (FCD). [3000 B.C. to 2000 B.C.]
- Abraham’s Life breaks open the third millennium (FCD). [2000 B.C. to 1000 B.C.]
- King David’s Life breaks open the fourth millennium (FCD). [1000 B.C. to A.D. 1]
- Yeshua breaks open the fifth millennium (FCD). [A.D. 1 to A.D. 999]
- World War One and Two dominate the final closing hours of the sixth millennium (FCD). (A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1999)
All of Noah’s parents, grand parents, all the way back to Seth (Adams third born son) would have likely known Adam personally (except for Enoch).
Can you see how this picture opens up the mind and heart to see how relationships are what the Kingdom of Heaven are Built upon?
Check out this visual picture of the people and relationships and their intermingling lives being connected to the same story—Knowing and Living by the same Life and Testimony God is establishing for His People.
Therefore, Noah would have learned Adam’s Testimony about God, his language, his story, his living in Paradise in the Garden of Eden, not personally from Adam, but from all those who would have known Adam personally. They would have learned it from Adam’s own lips—His Testimony of what happened in:
- the garden of Eden,
- the Fall and banishment from God’s presence,
- the animal sacrifice that covered their nakedness,
- the deception of the Serpent,
- the murder of Abel,
- the hardship of serving Sin (the hard ground), and most importantly:
- the Promise of a Messiah (A Deliverer)–The One who would crush the Serpent’s Head, and die on the cross (be struck in the heal).
All this would have been easily verified in triplicate (a minimum of two or three witnesses needed to make it legally binding) from an abundance of reliable witnesses in Adam’s Family Tree.
And God would have added His seal of conviction (His Internal Holy Spirit Witness) to the Truthfulness of the Testimonies given.
Furthermore, this Testimony received by Noah could have been passed directly from Noah’s lips to Abraham’s Ears. And Shem’s direct personal testimony (who came through the flood with Noah, and also knew all about the evil of men before the flood) could have been passed on directly to Isaac, Jacob, and Ruben’s ears. So the entire story could be verified by not more than two persons removed from the original story from the Life and Testimony of Adam to the Life and Testimony of Abraham. Of course, this is not written into the story, therefore it is only conjecture, but to know that it is possible, helps to bring perspective. These men’s lives were linked by God into something much greater than themselves.
More Evidence: We see the same pattern of faith and trust in the miraculous, in the Life of Abraham, that we see in Noah. We also see the same also life of excellence in obedience. As you know birds of a feather flock together. In other words man of light character, commonly draw strength, courage, faith, love, and admiration from one another.
Jesus said a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. This is as true for faith as it is for sin.
Checking for understanding: Why this talk about the genealogy of Adam to Abraham?
What we are establishing here is the big picture. Once a man can see the big picture, putting the individual details into the big picture makes it much more clear and understandable. It greatly reduces the margin of error for misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
And as we have said before we shall see again that God speaks to his people through pictures. The animal sacrifice for covering nakedness and sin is an eternal picture. The building of an Ark is an eternal Picture. The covering the World with Water is a Picture. The Crushing of the Head of the Serpent is a Picture.
These pictures were given to individuals through a Holy (separated) Family lineage, a family line, a bloodline, an unbroken genealogy from Adam to Abraham to Judah to Jesus. Whatever you can say about other religions on the face of the earth, I can tell you boldly that no other faith has such an unbroken lineage that knows the entire genealogy from the first man Adam to whatever savior a guru they claim to know or follow. Yet the entire word of God is based on this framework that is unmovable, irreplaceable, and unshakable.
Furthermore, God’s Testimony is not based on mythology. It is based on Law. God’s law. And His Testimony must meet the highest standard of legal requirement from beginning to end, with a verifiable witness and reliable testimony, that is easily confirmed in every generation to the men God spoke. This is the undeniable foundation laid for us, secured for us in the testimony of God, that is the backbone for the story of the name of God.
All the prophetic patterns that you will see weaving themselves, through the lives and works of all of God’s People, reveal to us reliable patterns, fingerprints of God’s Handiwork. And these testimonies fill the pages of His Word, from front to back, beginning to end. His stories crisscross throughout the lives of both insiders and outsiders to the Nation of Israel. They create not only a family History, but a worldwide History as well. The Ancient Flood Testimony shows up in some 300 independent cultures worldwide as far away as Hawaii, Japan, China, and Native American, and Latin American Traditions, that had little to no contact with the Israelite people. The Entire Testimony of God written down by Moses and other prophets of God, resonates with tribal people who have struggled against evil all their lives and His Story has been readily received and embraced by many cultures around the World. Whole Tribes and nations confirming His Testimony as True and Trustworthy in less than one generation.
That is the Power and the Testimony of God’s Word around the World. And ALL of God’s Testimony point to One pinnacle event. At the Apex of World History comes the Promise of God into the World. He declared Himself the Light of the World, and He fulfilled His calling and His Divine Work among us. Though many are unaware of it to this Day.
The Culminating Event in World History, the Date that splits History in two, the Most impacting Life and Most influential Person in World History has some very unique characteristics:
Yeshua never wrote a book. Never went to College. Never received any degree, certificate or honorary title given by man. Never ran for office. Never held an office. Never called people to revolt. Never called for vengeance on his enemies. Never lifted a finger or said a word to protect himself. Never went to war. Never picked up a weapon. Never owned a home. Never got married. Never had any children. Never started a famous business, a college, a hospital, or any institution. Never asked people for money. And only shared his life purpose and message for 3 and 1/2 years. He was born into obscurity and died in poverty. He was despised and rejected by his own people, and even disowned by his own closest followers.
Yet …All the Armies …
Please Note: Every picture, every story, every trial, every fear, every testing, every temptation, every overcoming faithful act of obedience that is rooted and grounded in this highly charged and exacting testimony of God, has had an eternal impact on our world today.
And as you can see from beginning to end, every champion in the word of God had to overcome major obstacles, and major trials and major testings, and major Temptations, not one of the Saints had it easy. And neither did the son of God. And neither did his disciples, his apostles, his witnesses, his evangelists, his pastors, his teachers, his prophets, they all were tried and tested in the fire of God. And we can see the patterns, that keep repeating themselves, keep laying down the fingerprints of God, and the word of God, verifying the presence of God and the lives of those of his chosen children. We can also see the pattern of the lazy, the self focused, the one seeking personal fortune, personal fame, personal gain. One the outside he may look just like the saint following his LORD, but on the inside, his heart motivations are shaped by an entirely different purpose. In the short run, it may be hard to see the difference between Simon-Peter and Judas Iscariot. But in the long run, there is a world of difference. Once your see the Big Picture and become familiar with the Main Story, and the Prophetic patterns that shape it, you begin to see the whole of the Testimony as one continuous unbroken whole, advancing and reinforcing its purpose and its priorities over and over in every new generation. You also see who cave into the spirit of lying, and you see those who through trial and testings, overcome the spirit of lying.